William Blake in art, music, film, and literature

The William Blake Jukebox Competition

Zoamorphosis.com is pleased to announce the first William Blake Jukebox competition. Suggest a track, movie or TV clip that can be included on the site and you could win a selection of 5 Blake-inspired CDs.

The inspiration comes from a recent comment by Maria Jette reminding me of John Tavener’s sublime rendition of Blake’s “The Lamb” which, while knowing very well (and even owning a copy of), had not been included in the Jukebox.

The William Blake Jukebox is a collection of YouTube videos based on Blake’s works in some way, whether adaptations of his poetry, clips from documentaries or films that are inspired by him in some way, or simply groups that use a Blakean title for their name or their songs. You can start using the Jukebox by going to the Blake Jukebox and Disco. Currently it includes the following videos:

How to enter and competition rules

To enter the competition, all you need to do is:

Enter a suggested title for the William Blake Jukebox in the comments section at the bottom of this page. Your suggestion can be music, film, television or any other format. It may be an adaptation of Blake’s poetry or a piece of music/video that you like by a Blake-inspired group/producer/director etc. The connection with Blake may be an indirect one, but there must be a connection for it to be included in the Jukebox.

The clip must be available on YouTube so that the code can be embedded in a Jukebox entry. The suggested title must not be included in the list above to be considered for the draw though you could include another track by an artist already listed.

Include the YouTube URL in your comment. You can find this either in the address toolbar of your browser or by clicking the share button beneath the video and copying the URL there.

You do not need to be a registered user of Zoamorphosis to leave a comment, but when you enter a comment you will be asked for an email address. Please ensure that this is a valid email as it will be used to contact the winner of the draw that will take place in December. Your email is NOT displayed on the site and will NEVER be used for any other purpose.

The draw will take place in the week beginning 5 December (so that – hopefully – the prize can be with the winner before Christmas). The winner will be contacted beforehand for mailing details.

A few rules and disclaimers:

The competition is not open to the editors of Zoamorphosis or their relatives (how embarrassing would that be if one of us won?)

You must provide a valid YouTube URL and email address, and the suggested title must not be from the list above (though you can provide a track from an artist already listed).

For each valid comment (i.e. with YouTube URL) you will have an additional entry into the draw (so more comments equals more chances of winning).

The CDs are from my own collection – so I’m afraid they are NOT new.

The prize cannot be substituted for cash – even if Santa does me bring some especially wonderful surprises for Christmas.

I cannot guarantee delivery before Christmas, especially if the winner lives outside the UK, but the winner will be informed shortly after December 5 and the prize will be sent in that week.

This is intended as some seasonal fun, and so I hope that it is taken in that spirit.

To get started, please leave a comment at the bottom of this page in the box under “Leave a Reply”.

Have just done a raffle based on suggestions here, and the winner is user name “Solon”. Always glad to receive any more suggestions, however, and I’ll start adding all the suggestions here over the coming weeks.

“God Has a Voice, She Speaks Through Me” by CocoRosie -I’d say the video is about as close to a modern version of Blake as you could get – the figures/Vala-like singer adorned in flowers, the veiled figures standing in a sea to go with the theme of veils being removed, very reminiscent of ‘The Sea of Time and Place’ image [http://www.indraz.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/de-antro-nympherum-by-william-blake-1821.jpg] … lyrically, it echoes many Blake themes and even some very similar phrases:

God has a voice, she speaks through me / Every creature loves to be / in his arms please carry me

I’m happy in the light of day / My skin glows bright in the sun breeze / My shadow’s world seems so far away

My angel told me not to fear / Love is free from everywhere / Listen to that special part / It will save us, its the heart.

I’m not sure if Blake is a direct influence or if they’ve just come to a similar aesthetic and mindset naturally..!